Just launched over at the BBC's history website is this gorgeous, interactive narrative and detective drama set in the late 1920's and produced by the award-winning creative team at Preloaded in the UK.

Death in Sakkara is an Egyptian adventure game, created in Flash, that offers a rich immersing narrative experience peppered with historical content, puzzles, mini-games, mystery and intrigue. Selectable dialog transports you right into the unfolding drama as you help journalist Charles Fox unearth clues that may help explain the mysterious disappearance of one Elizabeth Armstrong. Granddaughter of Dr. Mortimer Armstrong—the man whom sends Charles to Egypt to look for her—Elizabeth has evidently uncovered something to do with an ancient Egyptian mystical text, the Book of Thoth, dating back to Khaemwese, the 4th Son of Ramesses II.

The Curse, the first of four (4) episodes, has just been released today with the others to follow November 7th, 14th, and 21st. By giving the BBC your email, you will be sent a code with which to resume a game previously saved. You will have the opportunity to save your progress only at the end of each chapter (episode).

The style of the game is reminiscent of an old detective comic, and combines techniques such as panning stills and simulating traditional cel-animation to provide an authentic in-period look and feel. Quite an extraordinary production, though it's not surprising considering the talent behind it.

The entire adventure is based on an original idea by the BBC's history team, and includes comic and character illustration by Joe Berger, and an original musical score composed by Pendle Poucher.

Hello! For a long time I've been visiting Jay is Games, and finally I'm commenting. Fantastic site, Jay! Truly AMAZING!
I'm stuck at the safe code, though... Is there anything in the journal that could help me?

I've tried all the dates...

Once again, great site. And nice halloween touch to it, too. Do you do this around all major holidays?

Just would like to say that Jay I love your games and have been playing them for the last couple of months now but this is my first post too...
Can anybody give me an even better hint for the safe code please coz I have read the telegram over and over and am still stumped..LOL

Thanks, Jay! That one had me puzzled for a good 20 minutes. Now, I'm off to explore Cairo! Great game, the journal runs a little slow though. Keep up the fantastic reviews, and please, for all our sakes, never stop giving us great games to play! :)

I was just trying to look for something, anything, and c/o was the closest. I don't see much other then 212, I have tried various other things, such as number of words in sentences, number of letters, seeing if any 4 letter words use only the first 10 letters, etc. Lets just leave it at that the only point-and-click adventure I have solved on my own is Jinx.

I have 38% knowledege and 29% total
here are some ways to get more knowledge:

in page 2 of the diary there is a newspaper clipping, there is a small arrow pointing down allowing you to scroll and read more.
same thing for the letter on page 15.
also, i think that getting 100% in the chase gives more knowledege (although i don't know why...)

mad game! i'm not very good at these things and always come back to check the hints.. so.. i was chasing the theif and the bugger kept running and i got stuck on those flag things that go over the street.. ???

HMM..39% knowledge 29% total, wonder where you got the extra 1%? I tried going back through the adventure part, changing the conversation routes does not seem to change the answers you receive. Interesting game so far, has me wanting more.

Woohoo! I love this game. Thanks for posting it Jay. I will admit that the safe took a little bit of time, but it was great! For those having trouble...it helps if you really do read the telegram out loud. The only problem with it is how short it is. I'm dying for the next chapter. I need more.

Jay,
This is my first time posting even though I've been visiting your site daily for about 8 months. (even read all the archives) Truely an awesome site and I got everyone in my office hooked on it. You lead us to TonyPa's site. (Shoot is a big hit in my office)
Sgt Superman, the photo is in the chase and it appears as a piece of paper on the ground. You can replay the chase until you get it. Once you get it, if you replay the game again, you don't have to find it in the chase to have it in your book.

Hi,
I cant figure out how to go on to the next episode, i finished episode one and saved the game and i went back to the main menu....i have 18% of the adventure complete and i went through the journal a few times.....how do i go on to the next episode?

Lol i just found a bug in the game .. in the journal flip to the page with the "Four dig site photographs" the written line just under that you can select and delete it or write something on your own.. ;P guess they were a little sloppy hehe..

As short as this game is on the replay, it took quite a bit of time on the first play through. All that reading gives a lot of depth to the game with out adding animated content. I think when I design my game I will employ a similar tactic. I think that this could easily be one of the better games on the site.

Seriously, does *anyone* actually LIKE combination puzzles? Every single flash game has to have one, and I gag every time I encounter one and run straight to the forums. I can't think of anything more boring than figuring out what numbers make up a combination from ridiculous little illogical hints throughout the game. Tell flash authors to stop putting goddamn safes in their games.
Um, </rant>

i hate combos- I do like combo locks where I can figure them out, like this game. The fun part of games for me is the exploring part and finding the right combo is worth it. I almost feel cheated when I resort to using a walkthrough. I must admit though, it is much more fun working through a puzzle in a group.
Cheers.

Amanda, episode2 is not released yet, but I dont think you need 100% on chase. I dont know this for sure, but for the story to continue you only need to catch the thief once so it would make sense to go on even if your chase score was lower then 100%.

Wow, this is such a great game! I love Egypt, so exotic and mysterious. I can't wait for the next episode! So far, I'm my score is 27%. I got 0:33 for the chase (100%) and 25% total game score + 30% knowledge score and 1 each of hidden photo and aten symbol pieces.
Should I have any more than that for this episode?

I got the hidden photo in the chase, by going left once instead of straight. I think it was the 2nd left, but I'm not positive...

If I've missed a photo piece, do you think I can get it later?
Anyway, great game Jay!

Huzzah for chap. 2!
I have the dates marked down for when the next chapters come out. Is that sad?
The Aten symbol interests me. I wonder if it has anything to do with Ahkenaten, the pharaoh who introduced monotheism to Egypt. Does that have anything to do with the puzzle? I have a deep interest in Ancient Egypt, so I find this all facinating!
Is there only one peice of the photograph to find in this chapter? I thought there might be two, like in chapter one. Does anyone know or have they found another?
Thanks for the great game, Jay! Your site is a daily check for me.

I've got the photos, the aten symbols and have done my best with the chase and cups games. I went back through both episodes to change dialogue options (though answers seem mostly the same) and I've tried to read every page and click through the page links in the journal and still only 84% knowledge! What's the secret?!

I too was able to get 25% total game, 100% knowledge, 3 photos, 2 symbols and a total of 53%. It is possible, but I don't really know what I did.

Go back to the journal a few times and click on all links to other pages, no matter if you have been to that page before. Click the links on the 2nd to the last page too, and follow the path on the map exactly as shown from the pictures in the journal (C, A, B). This should get you up there. And of course go through the game a few times and try choosing all choices for the conversations. I also tried losing the first three games for the cups and winning the last one. Hope this helps.

Ooh, third episode is out! I totally have no idea what to do for the first puzzle, I must be missing something. Died three times already. But I have class and work and class, so hopefully when I check back, y'all have it all worked out! Jay, I love this site and (most of) your games!

Got the Escape the Underworld game figured out. You just need to look at the symbol and the God figure that pops up (same everytime). Then go to your journal and look up what matches with the God. If you are still having trouble, here are the answers.

Thanks for the link to this Jay - I actually had to restart the whole game because after I completed the first one, it didn't save my progress properly. I then gave up on it briefly because I didn't want to do the souk chase again, hehe.

And eraser, blimey, how did you get 100% on knowledge? I'm on 96% and it's driving me mad that I haven't got a clue how to get the remaining 4%! What's more, I've clicked EVERYWHERE in episode 3 - where did you find the 4th photo and 3rd Aten symbol?

What do you do with the telescope cos I looked at the thing the person left when I got ransacked and it doesn't make any sense to me....... Looked in my journal and nothing makes any sense to me. Please reply and have some answears of what I do.

Look at the star map and click on the link 'My notes could shed some light on this'. You'll basically need to be in the centre of the sky and click the stars in the order on the notes. It's quite tricky and it took me a while, but it's a lot smaller than you expect it to be.

Hope that makes sense. Thanks for the hint about the third Aten and photo :)

Wow, episode three sure put a twist on things! I have managed to find 3 Atec Symbols, but only 2 pictures. I have the one from the chase, and the one from outside of the hotel, but where is the other one? Please help!

Love this game, don't know how I missed it before! If anyone could give me a hand, I'm only missing ONE of the photo pieces. If anyone knows where they're all found, I'm not sure which one I'm missing. Thanks!

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